reading the dirt where Jesus wrote

Scarlett #1

The Scarlet Point Theology predicts and even demands certain practical considerations. I like to call these Scarletts.

Scarlett #1.

When I see a person, I am looking at an intensely focused region of Jesus activity. Whether the person is a Christian or not, he/she is a cosmic battle zone.
The stakes are extremely high. Fates that outlast a gazillion trillion years are hanging in the balance.
At the center of this battle/work zone are two hearts. –Jesus, and the person–. Both are capable of and vulnerable to extreme pain, ecstatic joy and deep emotional reflection.
These two hearts, caught in the central drama of Creation, are locked in a lifelong partnership of struggle. The heart of Christ is reaching out in a bleeding sacrifice of atonement, mercy and compassion. He knows the time is coming for judgement. He knows He is the Judge.
But for now, he is soveriegnly working his will through the vulnerabilities of the other party’s heart.
The question is then; how do I approach and interact with these “zones of divine activity?”
Here is a short checklist;

Deep reverence and respect. This is a “Creation” site. In your heart bow and worship the Creator as you reflect His work in this person’s life.

Consider that epic things of eternal consequence are taking place here.

Seek to appreciate what the hand of Christ is working in it’s full spectrum of love, mercy, glory and judgement.

Refrain from interacting with that person in any way that hinders or confuses the work of Christ.

Speak or do only by permission from Christ.

Consider that whatever I express in deed or word to that person is felt in intricate detail by the heart of Christ and the emotional makeup of that person.

You may think this is an incredibly complicated and slow checklist for the high speed buzz of human relationships we are a part of every day. But consider this; You are already relating to everyone from some kind of a checklist and you are probably quite consistent. How did you develop and learn overtime to use this checklist? You meet a person at church or at work and you immediately interact from a highly organized template of bias and expectations.

You can just as well choose as a disciple of Christ to be deliberate and choose your checklist–your template for human relationships. This is mostly done through realizing that you yourself are a busy zone of divine activity and surrendering your whole being to the the magnificent sculpting hand of Christ.

Paul is my hero as an example of interacting with other humans in this way. This is what he told the “work zones” in Galatia, right in the midst of some hard things that needed to be said because it was the truth.

” My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you…,”

Paul wasn’t slow and cumbersome to his fellow humans. He, just like us, had a template and could use it at the speed of light. However, he greatly assisted the Kingdom of God in the heart of each believer, because he himself was sculpted by the Great Light that gloriously smote and stopped him on the way to Damascus, -on the way to destroy more human souls!